Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE 39 CLUES. I only own the made up characters and the plot. (I totally wish I own Amian though...)

This is my first fanfic, so please help me out! Reviews are welcome :)

It was a lovely Thursday morning in London. A sleek, glossy black Ferrari with a black letter C engraved on its nameplate rolled smoothly into the enormous circular driveway of the Kabra Estate. The driver, a man with wisps of gray hair who looked somewhat in his fifties or sixties, opened both the side doors which arched on either upper side of the car, making it look like a great big raven. Amy Cahill thanked her Uncle Fiske and stepped out of the car, shaking her ruby-red curls. She had grown a bit in the past few years, her dull reddish-brown hair curling just so and becoming a full head of glowing flames in the sun. Of course, her hair wasn't the only thing that had changed in the years. Her reflexes, problem solving and fighting techniques through Madrigal training, and not to mention her fashion sense, had all developed to the point of perfection. Also, she had managed to get rid of most of her stuttering in front of people… excluding the exception, of course. Who, in fact, she was about to meet in a few minutes. Amy smiled secretly, blushing a little of the thought.

Her brother, Dan, jolted awake from his deep slumber as their once-au pair and now older sister Nellie turned on an alarm on her iPod, which started to blare some phrases in Japanese. "Where's the ninja? Who's the ninja?" He blubbered, half asleep, as he jumped up and banged his forehead on the Ferrari door. He howled in pain as Amy winced.

"For Gideon's sake, that hurt!" Dan complained, rubbing his forehead, which had formed an angry pink line across the middle. Inside the car, Saladin hissed awake with his fur standing and back arched, obviously unhappy to have been awaken in such a fashion. Amy reached inside his cage and gently took him out, stroking him until he calmed down again.

"You okay, Dan?" Amy put Saladin down on the floor, and scurried over in concern. Nellie examined Dan's forehead as Dan moaned dramatically, "No, Amy, I'm probably bleeding inside and will be suffering from concussion and brain tumor any moment and will have a serious loss of memory and oh my god I can't remember who I am! Oh my god!" He mock-swooned as Nellie grinned and tousled his hair, her pink, black and blonde hair waving in the slight wind.

"Oh please, if anything can knock Dan Cahill out with a blow to the forehead, it's a sledgehammer," chuckled Fiske as he brought the luggage from the trunk. Nellie laughed along as Amy giggled and gave Dan a squeeze. Dan squirmed out of her grasp and grinned, as Saladin jumped into his arms, mrrping loudly with a questioning look in his eyes, like he was saying, "That's very amusing and all, but where's my red snapper?"

"We'll get you some red snapper when we get in," Dan promised, just as the huge door of the Kabra Estate burst open. Three people walked out into the bright England sun and Amy's heart skipped a beat. Dan snickered audibly next to her. She jabbed his ribs.

"Always the usual entrance, huh?" Ian Kabra smiled. "Seems like Dan simply can't go anywhere without hurting himself before or otherwise."

Dan grinned, before fist-bumping Ian's outstretched hand (Ian looked bewildered for a second, as he was expecting a handshake, then quickly composed his face), and then shaking Natalie's.

"Nice to see you too, Ian," Amy smiled as she shook Ian's hand in turn, silently relieved that she managed to say it without stuttering, and couldn't help noticing that his hand was really warm. It felt nice against her skin, and she blushed thinking this. She also couldn't help noticing he got a crew cut from the last time she saw him. He looked good. Well, better than good. She flushed redder and looked away from his captivating gaze. She suddenly felt sultry hot down her back, but it wasn't because of the sun.

"Well, someone's in love," Dan mocked, sniggering. Ian and Amy almost tore their hands away from each other's at the word "love", barely acknowledging the fact that they were holding on a bit longer than necessary for a handshake. Natalie scurried forward, trying to rescue Amy and Ian from the embarrassing moment, hugging Amy and glaring at Dan over her shoulder with a look on her face that clearly said, "Way to ruin the moment." Dan's grin broadened. But suddenly, Natalie gave a huge "KA-CHEW!" that reminded the rest of them of Natalie's feline allergy, so they quickly backed up, promising to change and clean themselves as soon as they got in the mansion.

Ian and Natalie shook hands and hugged Fiske and Nellie as well, and then leaving the butler they came out with to park the car and carry in the luggage (as well as give Saladin some first class red snapper), they went inside the luxurious mansion. Right after the end of the Clue hunt, Ian and Natalie had quickly made use of their income from Grace to build their own home, the new Kabra estate, and after taking care of the inheritance papers, which ensured them both the entire Kabra fortune because their parents were locked up in jail for life, they had managed to settle down. It was a hard start for them both, but they managed, at the same time losing much of their arrogance and replacing it with kindness. The clue hunt had brought about a lot of changes in many of the family members, which really helped to bond them all together- especially all who had participated in it.

It had been three years since the hunt ended, and Amy was just awed at how much her life had changed since. Before the hunt, she had been only been a shy, unnoticeable girl famous for her love of books only. She wasn't outstandingly good at anything, really, and was just used to being totally average. They didn't have much money, their parents had died, and she and Dan had been put under the care of the most nerve-racking person on Earth: their Aunt Beatrice. The only parts that shone in her dreary everyday life were the days spent with Grace. She had never dreamed, even in her wildest fantasies, that she would ever have to go around the world searching for 39 clues to the biggest secret of the world, nor come much to close to her liking with death. She never imagined that her family consisted of the most influential people on Earth, and that there were four branches of the family that continuously battled with each other (with real hatred) and one secret branch that was trying to unite them all. But it had all happened to her, within the period of just five weeks only. And to top it all off, they had actually won the Clue Hunt and somehow managed to unite the Cahills for the first time in five hundred years. They had become practically a legend in Cahill history, AND billionaires to boot! And now, after the Clue hunt, here she was, a fully trained, officially qualified Madrigal top agent who could take down quite a few number of people if she put her mind to it.

Of course, Amy's life wasn't the only thing that had changed. If someone had told her before or during the Clue hunt that she'd actually come to LIKE her Cahill relatives, she would probably have left it to Dan to tell them to "get lost before I take out my ninja moves on you." But again, that's what happened. Ian and Natalie weren't the only ones who grew out their pompous personalities for the better. Hamilton Holt was now their best friend, and Ned and Ted had been cured of their aftershocks from the explosion at the Library Company of Philadelphia, an incident Amy still remembered as clearly as if it happened yesterday. Ned and Ted's recovery had completely warmed Sinead, which soon made her Amy's closest girlfriend. Of course, there were some official changes as well, like Alistair becoming the head of the Ekat branch after throwing Bae Oh in jail, and making the Starling triplets his second-in-command. The Holts succeeded the leadership for the Tomas branch, while Ian and Natalie kept in charge of the Lucians, and Amy's new family of four officially became the head of the Madrigals. Jonah's parents, Broderick and Cora, had divorced, and soon after Cora was banished from the Janus branch because of all the trouble she caused for interfering unnecessarily in the Clue Hunt and putting Jonah in danger. So naturally, Jonah and Broderick were now in charge of their family branch. They had gathered for family reunions once a year so far, and all of the hunt participants, as well as some others, had attended the reunion. Amy and Dan had gotten to know lots of other Cahills, who were surprisingly pleasant people. They had made lots of new friends.

However, the reason that the reunion Amy and Dan were here for was different from the others was because it was a top-class meeting. Only the most skilled agents among each family branch were required to come, and it was also the first Lucian-hosting one, taking place after barely a month ago from the last reunion. It was so top-secret that even Amy and Dan didn't know exactly why they were here, except that it was an emergency meeting.

But Amy was still thrilled to be able to see all her friends and family again.

"So what's exactly up?" Dan asked when they got to the magnificent lounge of the Kabra estate, after cleaning themselves up from any cat hairs or germs that might affect Natalie. Amy took a second to admire the huge golden ceiling of the wide hexagonal room and the delicate ceramic ornaments that decorated it, and another second to be wowed at the beautiful vintage sofas and tea-table. She sucked her breath in at the massive glass cabinet in the corner, showing a priceless display of an assortment of jewelry. But Amy was suddenly distracted by someone who was standing way too close to her than necessary in the spacious room.

"Impressed, love?" Ian gave the infamous Kabra smirk as Amy blushed for what felt like the millionth time that day in front of Ian Kabra.

"Wh-who wouldn't be?" she said a bit breathlessly, inwardly cursing her stutter. "Uhhh- and don't c-call me love!" she added as an afterthought, and Ian's smirk melted into a friendly smile, which broadened.

"I must say Natalie did a fantastic job here, because it was her job to decorate the lounge. Those paintings there were from the living room in the original Kabra estate, but she thought it would look better here. And those tiaras..." Ian pointed to the glass cabinets, but before he could finish, Dan cleared his throat almost threateningly and Ian jerked his head back from Amy's, who only then realized his face had been within five inches of hers. She then saw the rest of them seated in the sofas, and Nellie and Fiske looked like they were trying hard not to laugh at Dan's face, which looked maniac enough to kill. The phrase if looks could kill flashed through Amy's mind, and halfheartedly glanced at Natalie, who looked like she wanted to kill Dan. Amy felt her cheeks burning as she practically flew to the sofas and beside Dan. Ian, a slight pink tinge in his beautiful chocolate complexion, did the same, but beside Natalie.

Dan rolled his eyes. "IF you two are done making out, I'd like to discuss what exactly we're here for." He threw another blazing look at Ian, who dropped his head. Natalie wanted to kick Dan's shin, but she decided against it because she was wearing a rather tight Prada minidress, which she did NOT want to rip just for the fun of kicking him. Not to mention the fact that she was wearing heels. Amy looked embarrassed, while Nellie looked thoroughly amused, shifting the position of her nose ring.

Fiske cleared his throat, coming to the rescue. "Yes, Ian. What is the purpose of this meeting? And where are the others?"

Ian tore away from his stare at the floor to meet Fiske's eyes, suddenly businesslike. "Oh, yes. Um, you were the second to arrive. We invited all the heads of each family branch to attend the meeting. The Holts have given word they will be coming this evening, with the Starlings. Alistair should probably arrive within the hour. He just took off from a pit stop in Rome, after reloading fuel on his private jet. Jonah said he would get here as soon as possible after his concert in New York, although I don't know when exactly that will be."

"Who was the first to arrive?" Nellie inquired. "You guys?"

Natalie smiled widely. "No, actually. We also invited a top agent from our side of the family. Our cousin is going to attend the meeting with us."

"Your cousin?" Amy asked. "Have we met?"

"No." This time it was Ian who answered. "He arrived last night from Italy. He's English, but his father works at the headquarters there. He's nice," he added at Dan's raised eyebrow that clearly assumed the arrival of another evil Lucian. "He's actually quite pleasant. Probably because he's half Madrigal in blood, (everybody but Natalie gasped) as we found out quite recently," Ian continued. "He will be a valuable asset in this mission."

"Mission?" Fiske frowned.

"The mission we will alert all of you when everyone arrives," Natalie said, her face suddenly grave. Almost furious, but Amy thought she detected a sudden sadness in her eyes. But the look vanished as quickly as it came as she brightened. "But back to our cousin. I suppose you'll want to be introduced? He was just having breakfast with us before we excused ourselves to pick you guys up. He'll come down in a moment."

Just like on cue, a knock came to the door on the right, opposite the corridor they came from. "Come in," Ian called, standing up. Natalie scurried to the door eagerly, her jet-black hair flying behind her with an elegance that Amy felt sure she wouldn't ever achieve. "He's Natalie's and my favorite cousin, on our father's side," Ian explained his sister's sudden eagerness with a small smile.

The door opened and a grinning face stood on the other side. The person saluted slightly and shyly came in. He was almost as good-looking as Ian and Natalie. Was being gorgeous a family trait in the Kabras? Amy wondered. He was as tall as Ian and had the same shade of midnight hair as the Kabras, but a considerably paler skin, closer to a dark ivory than pure chocolate. His hair was long and his bangs fell into his amber eyes, swept casually to the sides, giving the air of being well-groomed yet not cared for at the same time. Amy suddenly felt small at all this magnificence of the Kabra family.

"Presenting Mr. Christopher Ryan Kabra," Ian said smugly. Natalie pouted. "I wanted to do the honors!" she whined. Ian ignored her with a smirk on his face and continued, "Christopher, I'd like you to meet Fiske, Nellie, Dan, and of course, Amy," gesturing with his hand.

"Please, call me Chris," Chris said, shaking everyone's hand, then winked secretively when he came to Amy. Amy blushed again. She was almost getting tired of blushing. "Miss Amy Cahill, eh? I've heard a lot about you," he said. Amy blushed even more deeply, while Dan shot another annoyed look at Ian. Ian, glowering, threw his sister a dangerous look, who was suddenly immersed in touching up her nail polish.

After an hour of chatting with the Kabra family, with quite a few other embarrassing moments, she found out Chris was a really outgoing guy, in contrast to Ian. He was easy to be friends with- the type of guy who would have been really popular and fun in her school. Not to mention, he was totally good-looking. After a few minutes with him, Amy felt like she had known him for ages. He knew exactly how and when to make people laugh, and she felt really comfortable with him. To be honest, she also liked the slight looks of jealousy that stole across Ian's face whenever Chris made her laugh. He was pretty cool, as a friend.

But Amy thought she still liked Ian better.

After an hour, Alistair arrived as said, and after they all had a very lavish dinner which Dan particularly enjoyed, the Holts and the Starlings did. Amy and Dan were thrilled to see Hamilton again, and were more than surprised to see him getting along quite well with Sinead. After all, it was a well-known fact that the Ekats and the Tomases weren't famous for getting along. Ned, Ted, Madison and Reagan seemed to have developed a gang against the "lovebirds", as they referred to, making a disgusted face. Dan rolled his eyes.

"Count me in. Ian and Amy made us all sick making out the entire afternoon."

Which earned him a punch both from a flushing Amy and a fuming Natalie.

The Janus leaders arrived half an hour later, Jonah still in his stage outfit, in a copter driven by Mr. McIntyre.

"What did I say, yo? Told ya I'd be comin' as soon as the show ended!" he said proudly, earning a chest bump and a fist bump from Dan, Hamilton, Ned, and Ted. After everyone had time to catch up with each other, they were all escorted to a secret Lucian base in the bottommost basement of the Kabra Estate, and finally, the meeting began. All the chattiness minutes before had subsided into a sober and silent atmosphere with a slight tension in the air. Everyone seemed nervous at what Ian had to say. Just how important was the news that he had gone as far as calling an emergency meeting with the heads of each branch? Everybody seated themselves quickly around a huge circular table that looked like what people from the UN use when they debate, except that it had the huge Lucian family crest printed in the middle of it. They sat patiently, as Ian rose from his seat.

"The reason we called an emergency meeting with the top agents of each family branch ONLY," Ian began slowly, "was because there has been a massive crisis. The contents of today's meeting are top-secret and it is crucial that none of it is spread outside the walls of this room. Is it agreed?"

There was a quiet murmur of agreement. Amy's heart started thumping in worry. Dan looked just about wild with anticipation, hanging dangerously off the edge of his seat, his eyes shining in excitement. Which made her worry even more.

Ian and Natalie shared a look of the utmost uneasiness, and surprisingly, fright. People started fidgeting in their seats, wondering what had possibly happened to make the Kabras, of all people, this concerned.

After a pause that seemed like many millennia, Natalie stood up, grave etched into every part of her pretty face. She took a very loud and shaky breath, and spoke startlingly in a very wobbly voice that seemed like it would break into tears. Dan suddenly felt a deep pang in his chest, for some foreign reason.

"I- I don't know how to break this to you…" Natalie stammered. Amy's heart faltered for a split second, like it knew what was coming before she did, and everybody else sucked in their breath, waiting for the rest. The moment seemed balanced uneasily at the tip of a blade, threatening to topple and crash onto the ground. Her hands began to sweat uncontrollably as Natalie finally opened her mouth again.

"…but Isabel Kabra has escaped."

That... was a pathetic attempt at a cliffhanger... did you like it? *worries, worries* R&R please!